Cow Farts Cause Explosion on German Dairy Farm

The flatulence of 90 cows blew the lid off of a dairy farm in Germany this week. High levels of methane – the gas that is emitted through the cows’ farts and burps – caused the eruption, which included “flashes of flames,” according to local police, damage to the roof, and injuries to one cow. (The cow was treated for burns but is expected to make a full recovery.)

Animal agriculture is the number one contributor of methane emissions in the United States, according to the EPA. And all that talk you hear about global warming? Scientists have traced it back to the high amounts of methane that come from factory farmed animals. That methane has proven to be 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in our atmosphere, say the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

A powerful and effective step to contribute less to global warming is to adopt a vegan diet. Even the United Nations urges everyone to move toward a plant-based diet, stating that raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”

If you wanna go green (and keep farms from randomly going up in flames), go vegan!